


Magnus Loses A Bet

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: Riordanverse One-Shots [5]
Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth tells Magnus Everything, BAMF Annabeth Chase, Canon Compliant, Gen, Magnus Chase Loves Falafel, Magnus Chase is an Atheist Norse Demigod that says Oh My God, Post-The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase), The Infamous Bet Scene We Never Saw, i don't know why that's so funny, i think we all know who won the bet, literally everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: "Okay, but being here with you?" Magnus said. "This is the most normal I’ve felt in years. After all the crazy fighting between our parents, the stupid grudges and years of not speaking to each other, I was hoping we could make our generation of the family not so messed up."Annabeth’s expression turned serious. "That kind of normal I like." She extended her hand. "To us, the Chase cousins. Here’s to being less messed up."They shook on it."Now spill," she commanded. "Tell me what’s been going on. I promise I won’t tell. I might even be able to help. I also promise that, whatever’s been going on with you, my life is weirder. It’ll make yours look downright suburban."Magnus considered everything he’d been through – death and resurrection, fishing for the World Serpent, fighting with giants, running from monster squirrels, binding a wolf on a disappearing island."How much you want to bet?" he said."Bring it on, cousin.""Lunch?" he suggested. "I know a great falafel place.""You’ve got a bet," she said. "Let’s hear what you’ve been up to.""Oh, no," he said. "Your story is so amazing? You go first."
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Jason Grace & Percy J. & Hazel Levesque & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez & Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson) & Magnus Chase, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Blitzen & Magnus Chase & Hearthstone, Gleeson Hedge & Everyone, Luke Castellan & Annabeth Chase & Thalia Grace, Samirah al-Abbas & Magnus Chase, Samirah al-Abbas/Amir Fadlan
Series: Riordanverse One-Shots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887385
Comments: 11
Kudos: 248





	Magnus Loses A Bet

He pretty much regretted Annabeth going first. As soon as they sat down at their table in Fadlan’s Falafel, Annabeth unleashed her whole life story.

“I did end up running away,” she said. “I was on the street for a few months before I was found by two others. Thalia and Luke,” she said wistfully. “Not too long after that, a satyr named Grover found us and took us to Camp Half-Blood. It’s a safe place for demigods.”

Magnus barely registered the fact that he had no idea what a satyr was. All he could think about was what Annabeth had said.

_ It’s a safe place for demigods _ .

Annabeth was a demigod. His cousin was a demigod too.

“Before we could cross the border, we were attacked,” Annabeth continued. Her eyes had turned sad. “Thalia’s father is Zeus. He wasn’t supposed to have any more kids. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made a pact not to have any kids because of a prophecy that said one of their kids would have the power to destroy Olympus.”

Zeus? Poseidon? Hades? Olympus? What were these names? Magnus didn’t recognize any of those as Norse gods.

“Hades sent a bunch of monsters after us to stop Thalia from making it to Camp,” Annabeth said quietly. “Thalia stayed back so Luke, Grover, and I could get to Camp safely, but she was hurt. Her father turned her into a pine tree so she didn’t die.” She trailed off.

“Annabeth?” Magnus began. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Annabeth looked startled. “But you said… I just assumed… well, I assumed you were a demigod too.”

“I am,” Magnus said quickly. “I am a demigod. I didn’t know you were one too. But I don’t really know what you’re talking about.”

Annabeth stared at her untouched falafel. “Magnus, what gods do you believe in?”

“Um, I’m pretty sure I’m atheist.”

Annabeth cracked a smile. “No, no. I meant what pantheon does your… your father belong to?”

“The Norse gods?” Magnus said slowly. “My father is Frey.”

“Of course,” Annabeth muttered. She took a deep breath. “Magnus. My mother is Athena. The  _ Greek _ goddess of wisdom.”

It took awhile for that to sink in.

“Greek?” Magnus sputtered. “There’s Greek gods too?”

“And Roman,” Annabeth winced. “I found that out recently.”

“Okay,” Magnus said. He took a bite of falafel. “Continue with your story of the Greek world that I will pretend I totally knew about.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “So Thalia turned into a tree and I spent the next five years at Camp in mostly peace until Percy Jackson showed up.”

The way Annabeth said his name was like the way Sam said Amir. Annabeth had the same lovestruck face Sam had too.

“He’s a son of Poseidon, the god of the sea,” she added for Magnus’s benefit. “Anyway, he ended up getting a quest to find the stolen lightning bolt. Grover and I volunteered to go with him.”

Magnus stared at her. “Why would you volunteer for a quest?”

Annabeth flushed. “I really wanted to get out in the world. Now that I have, multiple times, I would like to go back and smack some sense into my younger self.” She shook her head. “So we traveled across the country to LA when there’s an entrance to the Underworld. At the time, we thought Hades, the god of the Underworld, had stolen the bolt. We were wrong. Ares, the god of war, had slipped the bolt into Percy’s backpack to try and get Hades to kill us. Luckily we were able to escape. Next thing I know, Percy is challenging Ares to a dual.”

“He challenged a god to a dual?” Magnus repeated. “How old was he?”

“We were twelve,” Annabeth waved off. “Percy won and then we went back to New York and Percy took the bolt back to Olympus. At the end of the summer, we found out who had really stolen the bolt.”

“You mean it wasn’t Ares?” Magnus asked.

Annabeth shook her head. “Gods can’t steal each others symbols of power. A demigod can do it though which is why Zeus thought Percy had stolen the bolt.”

“Who stole the bolt?”

“Luke,” Annabeth said softly. “He was angry with the gods. The gods are… well, they’re distant. They don’t care very much about us. Luke just wanted things to change. He… he started working with Kronos. Kronos was a Titan. He came before the gods. The gods overthrew him.” She stared at the table. “The next summer, Thalia’s tree was poisoned. The only thing that could save her was the Golden Fleece.”

“Let me guess,” Magnus said. “A fleece made out of gold.”

Annabeth laughed. “Yeah, but also it has incredible healing abilities. It would be able to cure the poison and strengthen the tree. Thalia’s tree strengthened the warding around the camp so monsters couldn’t get in. Anyway,” she traced the table, “Grover had been kidnapped by a cyclops who had the Golden Fleece. Another girl at Camp, Clarisse, was given a quest to find the Fleece, but Percy and I snuck out of Camp along with Percy’s half-brother Tyson who is also a cyclops. A good one,” she added quickly. “We sailed into the Sea of Monsters and after a lot of encounters with monsters, we finally made it to the island where Grover and the Fleece were being kept. I, uh, I got hurt pretty bad during the fight,” she admitted. “Percy put the Fleece on me to heal my injuries.”

“What happens when you die?” Magnus asked.

Annabeth looked startled. “Um, well, for Greeks we end up at Charon’s Ferry. We pay him to take us across the River Styx and then we’re judged by three judges. They decide whether we go to Elysium, which is for people who were good in life, Asphodel, which is for people who weren’t good or bad in life, or Punishment, which is for people who were bad in life. If you get Elysium, you can choose to be reborn. If you achieve Elysium three times then you get to go to the Isle of the Blessed.” She smiled wistfully. “I’d like to go there maybe. Anyway,” she cleared her throat. “Why do you ask?”

Magnus fingered the pendant that hung from his necklace. The disguised form of the sword he’d actually died for.

“Just wondering,” he said. “I was wondering if your afterlife was similar to mine. They’re… well, they’re different. I guess I’ll tell you when you’re done with your story.”

Annabeth gave him a triumphant look. “And I’ll win.”

“Sure,” Magnus said.

“So we got back to the States,” Annabeth continued. “We sent Clarisse off with the Fleece which was a good thing because Luke showed up to try and steal the Fleece from us. He wanted to use it to resurrect Kronos.” She paused. “Chiron, our Camp activities director, showed up to save us. He’s a centaur. By the time we got back to Camp, Clarisse had arrived and she put the Fleece on the tree.” There was a slight edge to her voice.

Magnus frowned. “What happened?”

“Luke wanted us to use the Fleece to save Thalia’s tree,” Annabeth said. “Because it’s magic was so strong, it brought Thalia back.”

“Why is that bad?”

Annabeth smiled ruefully. “There was a prophecy, remember? A child of the Big Three would have the power to overthrow Olympus. Luke thought he could convince Thalia to join him. She was older than Percy, so once she was brought back, the prophecy would be about her.” She grinned. “So? How’s my story comparing to yours so far?”

“So far?” Magnus sputtered. “How much more is there?”

Annabeth thought for a moment. “Well, I still have to tell you about that winter, the next summer, the summer after that, then last winter, and finally this past summer.”

“Wait a minute,” Magnus protested. “I’ve only been a demigod for a week. Are you telling me I have to try and outdo years of your crazy demigod adventures?”

Annabeth shrugged. “You agreed to the bet.”

“So much for my one connection to the regular world,” Magnus muttered. “Alright. What happened that winter?”

“Grover sent a distress call,” Annabeth began. “He found two demigods. Percy, Thalia, and I headed out to help him bring them to Camp. Things didn’t go as planned and I was kidnapped and taken to the Mountain of Despair where Atlas holds up the sky. Except it wasn’t Atlas who was holding it. Luke was under the sky and I… I rushed over to help him, but instead  _ I _ got stuck under the sky.” She twirled a strand of her hair absently. “This used to be grey because of that. It faded away, but… Anyway, eventually Artemis, goddess of the moon, showed up and she took my place. A few days later Percy and Thalia came with another girl, Zoe, to save Artemis and I. Originally it had been Percy, Thalia, Zoe, Grover, and one of the new half-bloods Bianca who were coming, but Grover had to take something to Olympus and Bianca… Bianca died.”

“She went to Elysium?” Magnus asked.

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah. Her brother didn’t take it well. His name is Nico. He ran away from Camp when Percy told him.”

“Did she come back? Like to visit or something?”

Annabeth gave him a strange look. “No. Nico tried to bring her back, but… well, the dead should  _ stay _ dead. Bianca was at peace.”

Magnus looked away. “Yeah. Um, continue.”

“Zoe died too,” Annabeth said quietly. “She was Artemis’ lieutenant for thousands of years. The Hunters of Artemis are basically an immortal girls group that swears off dating in exchange for immortality,” she explained quickly. “Thalia chose to take Zoe’s place so that she wouldn’t be the child of the prophecy meaning that it was back on Percy. Unfortunately, when we got back and told Nico about his sister, we found out that Bianca and Nico were children of Hades.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Why did they even bother with an oath in the first place?” he shook his head. “Alright. What happened next?”

“That summer I led a quest into the Labyrinth to find Daedalus,” Annabeth said smugly. She looked proud to say that.

“Daedalus is…” Magnus prompted.

“Oh, he was a brilliant inventor from Greece,” Annabeth answered easily. “He built the Labyrinth to be an inescapable maze. You needed Ariadne’s String or a mortal with clearsight to navigate it. I… well, I didn’t handle that part very well. The mortal who helped us is Rachel Dare. She’s a friend now, but at the time I hated her.”

Magnus frowned. “Why? What did she do to you?”

Annabeth’s face turned pink. “Percy was very oblivious. Both to me and Rachel. I really liked him and he kept hanging out with another girl who really liked him too. You know, I kissed him twice and Seaweed Brain never picked up on any romantic feelings.”

“But you got the guy and she didn’t so now everything is okay?” Magnus teased.

“Shut up,” Annabeth said. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, we found Daedalus but he had given away Ariadne’s String to the Titan army and Luke which meant that they could march an army through the Labyrinth and into Camp Half-Blood to bypass the protective barriers.” She took a shaky breath. “We also found out how Kronos was planning to take a form. He had Luke swim in the River Styx so his skin would be invincible and then he basically possessed Luke’s body.”

“God, Annabeth, I’m sorry,” Magnus said. “He was your friend, right?”

“He was my brother,” Annabeth said quietly.

They sat in silence for a while. The only sounds were the other people in the restaurant and the sounds of falafel being eaten.

“So we found Nico along the way and brought him back to Camp with us to help fight the invasion,” Annabeth said. “We managed to fight them off and then Grover sent them running when he unleashed a Panic.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“Grover channeled the power of the god Pan,” Annabeth explained. “The god of the Wild. Pan had the ability to cause this horrible noise that made everyone who heard it run away in fear.”

“That’s handy,” Magnus said. “I can cause everyone’s weapons to fly out of their hands. Mine too, so it’s not that great.”

Annabeth stared. “Okay, I need to hear your story. I’ll try to finish this quickly.”

“Try being the operative word.”

“The next summer was bad,” Annabeth said. “In August we all went to Manhattan to defend Olympus from the Titan army. The gods were all busy fighting Typhon, a monster they barely defeated the first time, so the Titans decided to launch an attack to overthrow the gods.”

“I’m regretting this bet,” Magnus sighed. “You fought off a whole army?”

Annabeth grinned. “We held them back for three days. On the last day, we would have probably been overrun, but Nico showed up at the last minute with Hades, Demeter, and Persephone.”

“Hades is Nico’s dad and the god of the Underworld,” Magnus recalled. “Who are the other two?”

“Demeter is the goddess of agriculture,” Annabeth said. “Her daughter Persephone is the goddess of springtime and she’s married to Hades, so she’s also the Queen of the Underworld.”

“How does springtime have anything to do with the Underworld?” Magnus demanded. “Aren’t they like polar opposites?”

Annabeth shrugged. “She wasn’t always married to Hades. There’s a couple variations of the myth. One says she accidentally arrived in the Underworld and decided that she liked it there and she fell in love with Hades. Another says Hades fell in love with Persephone and he kidnapped her and tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds so she’d have to spend half of the year in the Underworld with him. Personally, I like the first one, but I don’t know which is true. They love each other at least. That much I do know.”

“Okay, so Hades, Demeter, and Persephone saved the day,” Magnus recapped. “Then what?”

“Percy, Grover, and I followed Kronos to the throne room of the gods,” Annabeth said. “I was able to bring Luke out and he… he killed Kronos.”

The memory was very obviously still painful for her, but something shone in her eyes like pride for what Luke had done.

“He died a hero,” she said softly. “I wish it hadn’t been that way though.” She cleared her throat. “After that, Percy made the gods promise to claim all their kids and to recognize the minor gods and Hades. We built cabins for them at Camp because we only had the 12 Olympians. But after the battle, when we got back to Camp, I finally got Seaweed Brain to like me back.” She paused. “I guess he always had, but he finally realized it.”

“I don’t really want to hear about that,” Magnus muttered.

Annabeth laughed. “Okay. Look, I’m almost done. So I thought that we could finally have peace, but then in December, Percy went missing and three new half-bloods showed up. Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and Leo Valdez. Those three went on a quest to free  _ Hera _ ,” the name was said with such venom, Magnus actually flinched back, “the goddess of marriage, from her prison. A giant had captured her or something. I don’t really care.”

“You don’t like Hera,” Magnus observed.

Annabeth’s eyes flashed. “Of course not! She kidnapped my boyfriend and erased his memories. She did the same thing to Jason. Jason is a Roman demigod and he was at the Roman camp. Hera took his memories and sent him to Camp Half-Blood, the Greek camp. She took Percy’s memories and sent him to the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter.”

“Wow,” Magnus said. “Who are Jason, Piper, and Leo’s parents?”

“Jason is a son of Jupiter, Zeus’s Roman form, and he’s Thalia’s full brother,” Annabeth said. “Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.”

“Like Freya,” Magnus noted. “She’s my dad’s sister.”

Annabeth nodded. “And Leo is a son of Hephaestus, god of fire and forges.”

“So did they free…” Magnus trailed off, unsure if he should say Hera.

“Yes,” Annabeth ground out. “They saved her. It was necessary otherwise Gaea, the Earth basically, would have woken up. When they got back to Camp, Leo showed us this hidden bunker he’d found which had the blueprints for a giant flying warship. We built it, named it the Argo II, and this past June we took it to the Roman camp. By we I mean Jason, Piper, Leo, and I along with Coach Hedge, our satyr chaperone.”

“What about Percy?”

Annabeth blew out a breath. “Percy. Yeah. That didn’t go very well. These spirits possessed Leo so he would fire on the Romans. We had to make a quick exit. Percy joined us along with two Romans. Frank, son of Mars, Ares’ Roman form, and Hazel, daughter of Pluto, Hades’ Roman form.”

“Um, you have things that can possess you?” Magnus asked nervously.

“Oh, Piper took care of that,” Annabeth said. “See the eidolons, that’s what they’re called, possessed Jason and Percy too and made them fight. Piper can charmspeak which means she can tell people to do stuff and they’ll do it, so she made the eidolons swear on the Styx that they wouldn’t possess a demigod ever again. They Styx is a binding oath,” she added.

“Kind of like swearing on your troth,” Magnus muttered.

Annabeth looked at him. “What was that?”

“Nothing. I’ll tell you when it’s my turn.”

“Right,” she said. “Well, I had my own quest to complete. My mother gave me her Mark. The Mark of Athena is basically like a treasure hunt for Athena kids. Athena only gives her Mark to one demigod each generation. Well, not anymore since I was the first to find the end and come back alive.”

Magnus stared at her wide-eyed. “Excuse me? First to come back alive?”

Annabeth waved him off. “I’ll get there. So anyway, we were heading to Rome because Nico, you remember Nico, had been imprisoned by two giants and we had five days to save him before he died. When we got there, Percy and the others went to find Nico and I went to complete the Mark of Athena.”

“And you’ll tell me what was so important at the end?”

“The Athena Parthenos,” Annabeth said dreamily. “It was a statue that used to be in the original Parthenon in Greece, but it disappeared. No one knew where it was. The Mark led me through tunnels until I found the statue.”

“Sounds way too easy,” Magnus said.

“Oh, I spared you the boring details,” Annabeth said. “I had to figure out different ways to actually reach the chamber the statue was in. But when I finally got there, it was guarded by Arachne.”

“A… spider?”

Annabeth scowled at him. “The mother of all spiders. In the myths, Arachne boasted that she was a better weaver than Athena. Her tapestries also made fun of the gods. Well, you don’t just get away with insulting the gods like that, so Athena turned her into the first spider. Her children continue to seek out children of Athena as vengeance.”

“Yeah, I remember you were terrified of spiders,” Magnus said.

“I still am,” Annabeth said. “Just… after facing Arachne, I’m not as scared as before. I tricked Arachne into weaving a giant Chinese handcuffs model. She got stuck inside.”

“That’s actually brilliant,” Magnus said. “You trapped her so you could get yourself and the statue out.”

Annabeth grimaced. “Not quite. I had a broken ankle and there was no way I could move a forty foot statue. Luckily, my friends came. They blasted a hole in the ground right above the chamber. Leo and Frank secured the statue before it could fall.”

“Fall?” Magnus asked in alarm. “Fall where?”

“The chamber we were in was right above a chasm that went straight to Tartarus,” Annabeth explained. Her face was slightly pale. “Tartarus is another part of the Underworld. It’s where the monsters go to regenerate when demigods kill them. It’s also where the Doors of Death are located.”

“And those are?”

“It’s how monsters escape into the mortal world,” Annabeth said. “Gaea and her army had them chained so they wouldn’t move and she could keep sending her army into the mortal world. Nico had gone into Tartarus to try and close them. That’s how he got captured.”

Magnus was beginning to get a sinking feeling.

“Like I said, Leo and Frank secured the statue before it could fall, but a spiderweb had gotten caught on my leg,” she said. “Percy grabbed me before I could fall, but…” she bit her lip. “He made Nico promise to lead the others to the mortal side of the Doors in Epirus. He and I fell into Tartarus after that.”

“With all the monsters that you’ve killed,” Magnus asked for clarification.

“Yep,” Annabeth confirmed. She clenched her fists. “I don’t really want to relive these memories right now, Magnus. I’m just… I’ll give you a general idea, but… not yet. Not without…” she trailed off, but Magnus got the idea. She didn’t want to talk about it if Percy wasn’t there.

“Okay,” he said. “That’s okay.”

Annabeth gave him a grateful look. “A Titan named Bob and a giant named Damasen helped us find the Doors. Percy and I cut the chains holding the Doors and then Bob and Damasen fought off the monsters while Percy and I escaped back into the mortal world. On the mortal side, Hazel and Leo fought a sorceress and a giant that were guarding the Doors. They defeated them with the help of Hecate, goddess of magic, and we went back to the Argo II. Reyna, praetor of Camp Jupiter, was there. She, Nico, and Coach Hedge were going to take the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood to prevent a Greek-Roman war.”

“I forgot you fired on them,” Magnus said. “Okay. I’ll admit. You have me beat. So they took the statue back? How?”

“Nico can travel through shadows,” Annabeth said. “He shadow traveled the statue and Reyna and Coach Hedge back to Camp just in time to prevent the Greeks and Romans fighting. Meanwhile, the rest of us were on our way to the Acropolis to try and stop Gaea from waking up.” She scowled. “That didn't exactly go the way we planned. See, Gaea needed two demigods, a boy and a girl, to bleed on the ground of the Acropolis to wake up. I got cut and my blood hit the ground.”

“Well, as long as no boy bled,” Magnus started to say.

“A boy did,” Annabeth sighed. “Percy was doing so well. He fought the giants and then… he got a nosebleed,” she said dramatically.

“A nosebleed started the apocalypse?” Magnus asked, just to be sure he understood correctly.

Annabeth nodded. “Yep. The gods showed up after that to help us kill the giants and then Zeus slapped us back to New York because that’s where Gaea went.”

“The world almost ended and I had no idea,” Magnus muttered.

“Leo managed to build a robotic dragon inside the ship so when the ship exploded, he rode in on his dragon,” Annabeth said. “His dragon, Festus, grabbed Gaea and flew her into the sky. Jason used the winds to fly himself and Piper up there while the rest of us joined the Greek and Roman demigods in fighting off Gaea’s army.” She hesitated. “I wasn’t there, but from what they said, Piper charmspoke Gaea to sleep. Leo set himself and Festus on fire, Leo’s a fire user so he’s immune to fire mostly. One of the Romans launched a flaming ball at Leo and Festus. They exploded and Gaea was sent back to sleep.”

“The guy killed Leo?” Magnus asked. “Did you punish him?”

“Octavian accidentally launched himself as well,” Annabeth said. “So he died and the Romans think he’s a hero for ending Gaea. Whatever.”

“But Leo’s dead,” Magnus pointed out. “Shouldn’t he be held responsible for that?”

“Doesn’t matter anymore,” Annabeth said. “About a week after the battle, we got a message from Leo. He used the Physician’s Cure to bring himself back from the dead. Last I heard, he still hasn’t come back to Camp. Everyone’s kind of mad about that. And that,” Annabeth said, “that is my story.”

“Long story,” Magnus grumbled.

Annabeth grinned. “Yeah. It would probably be like ten books if you wrote it all down.”

“Mine would be a grand total of one,” Magnus sighed. “I definitely lost that bet.”

Annabeth patted his arm. “Well, you listened to me. My turn to listen to you.”

“I guess the story starts on my sixteenth birthday,” Magnus said. “My friend Blitz came to tell me that there were these two people looking for me.”

Annabeth grinned sheepishly. “Sorry if we scared you.”

“I went to find out who was looking for me,” Magnus said. “When I found out it was you and Uncle Frederick, I almost went over to you guys, but…” he shrugged. “Anyway, I broke into Randolph’s. He caught me and then started going on about how  _ they _ were coming to kill me and stuff about the Vikings and whatever. He took me to the Longfellow Bridge to get a sword that belonged to my dad.”

Annabeth looked interested. “Randolph knew who your dad is?”

“I guess,” Magnus said. “I didn’t really believe him, but then I  _ did _ pull a sword out of the river.” He tapped his pendant. “I’ll explain this later I guess. So after that, this fire giant named Surt showed up to kill me which as you can imagine, I would have preferred to stay alive, so I tried to fight him. Bad idea. Do not recommend it.”

“Well, you survived,” Annabeth said. “Somehow.”

Magnus grimaced. “Yeah. No. So that body at the funeral home? That actually was my body.”

Annabeth looked confused. “What? But you’re right here. Alive.”

“I’m not,” Magnus said quietly. “We’re called einherjar. Fallen warriors and Odin’s chosen.”

“You’re a ghost?” Annabeth asked.

“Einherji,” Magnus sighed. “I’m an einherji. Currently, I live on Floor 19 of Hotel Valhalla.”

Annabeth took a moment to take it all in. “Okay. Okay. So my cousin is a dead warrior. Anything else I should know?”

Magnus frowned. “Um, the einherjar like to fight to the death. Actually, most of our activities are to the death. As long as we die within Hotel Valhalla, we appear back in our rooms a few hours later with no injuries or anything. It’s kind of strange, but…” he shrugged. “Anyway, my hallmates are Mallory Keen, Halfborn Gunderson, and Thomas Jefferson Jr. We used to have another named X, but he turned out to be Odin in disguise.”

Annabeth closed her eyes. “Naturally. Okay, go on.”

“So this girl named Samirah brought me to Hotel Valhalla,” Magnus said. “She’s a Valkyrie. I got her fired.”

Annabeth choked. “What? How?”

“Oh, Frey’s kids aren’t supposed to go to Valhalla,” Magnus said cheerfully. “We go to Folkvanger in Vanaheim. Plus, I didn’t die with a weapon in my hand so that wasn’t considered heroic. And Gunilla edited the Valkyrie Vision tapes to show my blooper reel.”

Annabeth blinked. “Huh. I’m going to read up on Norse mythology later.”

“Yeah, so that happened,” Magnus said. “Then Blitz showed up in my room with his buddy Hearth. They hung out with me a lot when I was living on the streets. Turns out, Blitz is a dwarf and technically my cousin since Freya is his mom. Hearth is an elf.” He tapped the table. “They helped me break out of Valhalla so I could find my dad’s sword that I lost during my death. A squirrel and wolves and Valkyries chased us.”

“Did you say a squirrel?” Annabeth asked.

Magnus sighed. “Yeah. Ratatosk. Anyway, after that is when I ran into you at the funeral home. After  _ that _ we ran into Sam and she agreed to help us stop Ragnarok because that would mean the end of the world and no one wants that. So then we came here to eat falafel which was stolen by  _ Big Boy _ ,” he glared out the windows at the birds flying by. “He tricked me into swearing by my troth that I’d get him an apple of immortality. So I did that and I got my sword. Turned it into a pendant to be a little more inconspicuous.”

“Percy has a sword like that,” Annabeth nodded. “Alright. Keep going.”

“I opened this hole to the World Tree to take us to Vanaheim, though I was aiming for Nidavellir,” Magnus admitted. “Folkvanger actually. So I got to meet Freya.  _ She _ sent us to Nidavellir to get her earrings.”

Annabeth held up a hand. “Why were you trying to get to Nidavellir in the first place?”

“The rope that holds Fenris Wolf was possibly failing so we were supposed to make sure it was in tip top shape,” Magnus said. “Spoiler alert. It wasn’t. Anyway, the dwarf who made it, his son challenged Blitz to a build off. With the aid of Sam the horsefly, Blitz won and we got Freya’s earrings and a new rope to bind Fenris with.” He paused. “It was made out of paradoxes.”

Annabeth sighed. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not, but since you mention it, I’ll tell you anyway,” Magnus said. “It’s made of Wi-Fi with no lag, a politician’s sincerity, a printer that prints, healthy deep-fried food, and an interesting grammar lecture.”

“Percy says my grammar lectures are interesting.”

“Percy’s dating you and you’d probably murder him if he said differently.”

Annabeth stared him down. “Fine. Whatever. Carry on.”

“So as we were running for our lives, I decided to chat with my sword,” Magnus said. “We settled on the name Jack and if we weren’t in this nice falafel place, I’d introduce you, but I don’t want to get banned.”

Annabeth didn’t say anything. Maybe she’d come to expect talking swords somewhere along her many years of demigodishness.

“We fell into Jotunheim and I got mouth-to-mouth from a goat,” Magnus continued. “Hearth passed out a lot.”

“Reminds me of Jason Grace,” Annabeth said with a faint smile. “He passed out more times than I can count.”

“Hearthstone passes out even more than Jason Grace (though I have no idea who that is),” Magnus mused. “I like it. Anyway, we met Thor after that. Turns out he likes to watch TV and he looks nothing like Chris Hemsworth.” He frowned. “Oh well. I shoved Jack up some giant noses and then we gave Thor his staff back.”

“He doesn’t have a hammer?” Annabeth asked in confusion.

“No, he does,” Magnus assured her. “He watches TV on it. But he also has a staff. The hammer is still-” he cut himself off. “Nevermind. That doesn’t matter. After that we booked a cruise to the Island of Heather which, coincidentally, is covered in heather. Long story short, we bound Fenris with the new rope and Jack and I sent Surt and the fire giants back to Muspelheim. I passed out on the way back to Valhalla and I met my dad. He gave me my mom’s ashes and the flier you gave me with your number. He said…” Magnus hesitated. “He said I would need your help before all is said and done. I don’t know what he meant by that.”

Annabeth sighed. “Figures. Percy and I try to get a few peaceful years, but something like this happens. Alright. Just… call me if you need anything I guess. Or once you figure it out.” She paused. “So I guess that leads us to now?”

“Well when we got back to Valhalla X revealed himself as Odin and he reinstated Sam as a Valkyrie and he offered to let me go to Folkvanger or return to my mortal life,” Magnus said. “I… I decided to stay in Valhalla. Then we had funerals for the Valkyries that died and  _ then _ that leads us to now.”

Annabeth nodded slowly, taking it all in. “I still won,” she said finally.

“Yeah,” Magnus grumbled. “You still won.”

“You came close,” she said, patting his shoulder.

“No, I didn’t.”

“No. You didn’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> So here's my shot at the bet Magnus lost. I started writing this because someone asked me about why Magnus didn't know certain things in my The Sum of Our Choices series. I tried to go back through my comments and I didn't see the exact comment, so now for all I know I was hallucinating that memory. Either way, I wrote this to use as my personal canon bet scene.


End file.
